SAN FRANCISCO—The Olympic Club had promised scar tissue for plenty of golfers in the 112th U.S. Open. Webb Simpson, who outlasted the drama, the difficult conditions and past champions Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell to win his first major, simply survived as much as won.

The 26-year-old North Carolina golfer got some help, most notably from a late collapse by Furyk, who was unable to make even one birdie in a round of 74 that dropped him into a gut-wrenching tie for fourth. But Simpson also finished 68-68 on the weekend, sublime in any major, and deserves all credit.

“I probably prayed more the last three holes than I’ve ever done in my life,’’ said Simpson, who seemed to have more good looks at birdies than anyone else all day and would have won going away if he had converted a few more.

There’s touch of irony in that the young man attended Wake Forest on an Arnold Palmer golf scholarship and the Olympic Club, of course, was the scene of one of Palmer’s most painful defeats, blowing a seven-shot advantage in the final nine holes to Billy Casper in 1966. “He’s meant so much to me and Wake Forest that ... I can get a little back for him and make him smile,’’ Simpson said.

For Furyk, this collapse wasn’t as bad as Palmer’s. But it was bad.

“I got off to a good start, so now I’ve got to put the ball in the fairway, put the ball on the green and let people come to me and do something special,” Furyk said. “Webb did that today, but I didn’t close it out.’’

Furyk had been the calm, composed grinder for more than 60 holes, but finally became as exasperated as almost everyone else; he took a swipe at the rough on the 12th hole and flipped his driver away in disgust after an egregious snap-hooked tee shot at 16. That one led to a bogey and dropped him a shot behind Simpson, who had just made a terrific chip at 18 to three feet to save par.

“Got my hands shaking a little bit, but knocked it in,’’ Simpson, No. 2 on the money list in 2011, said of the final putt. He birdied four of five holes through No. 10, then eased home with eight pars to post 281.

McDowell, the 2010 champ who began the day sharing the lead with Furyk, lost four shots to par in the first nine holes, rekindled hope with a twisty 25-foot birdie, his second in a row, at the 12th, but stubbed a chip at 14 and looked out of it. A birdie at 17 brought him level with Furyk, but neither could birdie 18 to catch Simpson. Furyk bunkered his approach, skulled the exit and made bogey. McDowell had a birdie chance from about 24 feet above the hole, but missed it badly left. His 73 left him tied for second with Michael Thompson at 282.

“There’s a mixture of emotions inside me right now. Disappointment. Deflation. Pride. But mostly frustration,’’ McDowell said. “I hit three fairways today. It’s the U.S. Open. You’re not supposed to do that.’’

Some guys, starting with Tiger Woods (six over through six holes) were out of it early and some hung in a while on a gloomy, misty, damp and therefore typically San Francisco kind of day.

Thompson, the first-round putting machine who began the day six shots behind the leaders, was the first to 282 on the strength of a 67 helped immensely by a tree on the 18th fairway. Thompson hit it with his wild-right drive, but the arboreal gods were with him; the ball banked back to the fairway and he made his par.

Still, as he said, “there’s a little hope, but I don’t honestly expect anything.’’

It worked that way for a bundle of other challengers, both short- and long-term, who ended at 283. Padraig Harrington had a little birdie binge to get close, but his last gasp went splat in the bunker at 18, costing him bogey. David Toms, likewise shooting 68 but never really threatening, also finished at 283.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, who eagled his way squarely into the picture at No. 7, had a chip roll back to his feet at No. 16, the subsequent bogey shutting down his bid at 72 and 284.

“I missed the shot. I guess I got what I deserved,’’ Els said. “I’m disappointed right now. I felt I had a chance all day.’’

Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old amateur from Southern California, got some juices flowing by saving par from off the first green, about 25 feet. He hung in gamely until a double-bogey at the final hole spoiled the result, leaving him at 76 and 289 and a tie for 29th place. Still, it was a remarkable showing for one so young.

Let us also consider poor Lee Westwood, now 0-for-57 in career majors despite loitering near the lead in many of them. Westwood was two over but alive when his tee shot on the fifth hole stayed up on a big tree. This was the same hole, fans might recall, where Lee Janzen drove into a tree in the 1998 Open here, albeit on the other side of the fairway. That time, Janzen was walking back to the tee when a sudden gust of wind dislodged the ball and it plunked to earth. He made par and rallied to beat Payne Stewart. No such luck for Westwood, who even used binoculars in an effort to spot and identify his ball. He carted back to the tee, reloaded and took his double bogey, a backward step from which he couldn’t recover.

In golf, the difference between history and misery often isn’t much.

As for Woods, the golfer, he has become a much lesser version of himself in his best day, besieged by doubt now in a way he never was when he was riding high. He still possesses great talent and will continue to win events on the PGA Tour and might even get another major somewhere down the road. Not this one, though, and his biological clock, in terms of catching Jack Nicklaus’s 18 professional major titles, is ticking loudly.

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